Homecoming!

So, a couple of weeks ago, this happened...

That young lady hugging our son agreed to be his date for Homecoming.  He kind of held out asking her until later than he ought to have, and kept his intentions secret from us as well until the week he asked her.  I have to say that the day he asked her, his plan didn't unfold like he wanted to and the ride to school was MIGHTY tense.  This is new territory for our guy - and while he and this girl are "just friends" - he wanted it to go right.  His plan involved writing on a balloon "Homecoming" and having her blow it up to read it.  But, being the HORRIBLE mom that I am, I didn't happen to have balloons just sitting around the house (had he told me five minutes before leaving for school that morning, I would have moved mountains to accommodate....but, oh no, that would have been too easy).  Fortunately, one of his friends came to his rescue at school.  He asked this girl to blow the balloon up for him (to give to another buddy), while he tied his shoe.  But, she can't blow balloons up - she ended up asking her friend to do it for him, while Brayden spent five minutes crouched down tying his shoe.  She knew what he was up to - and said, "Yes" - before the balloon was fully blown up.

As for this girl's name....well, it's "Riley".  Spelled the same way as our last name.  That amusing fact doesn't get past anyone.  We don't know her very well as she attended another school than Brayden before Marist, but all who do know her seem to love her.  She's very nice, apparently very funny and goofy, and, well....short.  PERFECT!!!!!!  

So, a week and a half later, we were dropping him off at the Meyers' house for his first high school Homecoming.  The guys all arrived first - and took some dashing pics before the girls got there.  (Left to right:  Brayden, Jack, Andrew, Ian, and Nicholas)

A few of the girls - Riley and Grace (Andrew's girlfriend) - and I've forgotten the names of the other two gals.  I love that Tom's and Converse shoes were among their footwear choices.

Then came the giving and pinning of the flowers. 

So, the word "Adorable" has been thrown around with these two.  I'm sure that's not the word they were going for, but you kind of just can't help it - as they are so LITTLE - and both have very youthful looks to them for being 14.

You couldn't have asked for better weather for the evening - unseasonably warm - and the backdrop of autumn leaves was gorgeous.

All of these guys and gals are really quality people - we consider it such a blessing that he's been included with these guys and feels so comfortable fitting in with a group that largely attended a private school before Marist.  

This was the pic taken with John's I-Phone that hit my Instagram and Facebook account, and just maybe earned more "likes" than any other Instagram pic I've ever put up.  Not hard to see why - you can't help but smile when you look at it.  =)

Mark and Amy were our heroes for the evening as they carted the crew to McMennamin's Restaurant where the group of 10 had reservations (Mark and Amy disappeared for a while during that time), then took them back to their house for a while to kill time to be "fashionably late" for Homecoming (instead of proving they're freshmen by getting there when the doors open).  :)  Upon finally getting there, though - they weren't super impressed with the dance playlists so they only stayed for an hour.  Mark and Amy brought them back to their house again where they all hung out and watched "Now You See Me".  John waited for Brayden's phone call as to when to pick him up....which finally happened at 2:30am.  As it was a group of them and we knew exactly where he was at, it being that late at night wasn't an issue.   He did end up sleeping until noon the next day, however!

So, Freshman Homecoming earned two thumbs up for Brayden - and I think, for the "other Riley" too.  It's just so wild that we are even at a point to write a post about such things.  HOLD ON!....This ride is going way too fast!